The Socially Networked Classroom Book Feedback to Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter 3 - "Tall": Social Networking in a Medium-Tech Environment

                       In this chapter the author provides activities that can be done in a school setting and also gives information about media applications, and talks about communicating with online safety, an understanding of what fair use in the media world, and the rules for a beginner who wants to start blogging.

            Communication online safety has been a concern for many educators and schools. Educators feel that social networking in the classroom and the dangers of online like cyber bullies, and exposure to the students with other fears of internet responsibilities. According to (Kist 2010) the examples of internet safety using curricula are Cybersmart Curriculum, iSafe, and Digizen were some that were listed in this chapter. Other educators have worked on developing Web-based educational sites are still concerned with online safety such as Zoey’s room (www.zoeysroom.com) that is an afterschool club that meets online and launched in 2002. This online club was designed to get girls interested in (STEM) science, technology, engineering, and math in the female roles in this profession.   

            The understanding of the “Fair Use” is addressed in this chapter as a concern for educators’ fear of plagiarism, which tends to be another reason why they limit the usage of the new media in the classroom. By educators using this topic of discussion with their students they can educate them on what is allowed and what is not fair use.

            Rules for blogging in the classroom can be safe for students when they are within a completely closed school network. The students should be introduced to the rules of and guidelines when providing feedback and not to be mean according to (Kist 2010). Another example in the chapter is for an educator to create a fake internet, which many schools and companies have that is known as an Intranet. This would allow students to have the same benefits of a social networking experience but it be restricted to the students in the classroom.

            Other activities that the author provides the reader is by mixing the two worlds of offline and online. The use of Hyperlinked Double-Entry Journals can be seen as a way for students to practice to have a dialogue and a reaction to the section or quote. This helps students to use their feedback and not plagiarize because it is their own opinion.

            Another activity example the author provides us is with Online Reading Portfolio and Online Writing Portfolio: this is an interactive portfolio system in which students can upload their work that was created and submitted throughout their classroom assignments. The portfolio can provide the student with a way to display their progression of work over the semester or the years. The portfolio can also allow the teacher to see the progression of the student and can be shared with other students.

 Chapter 4 - "Grande": Social Networking in a High-Tech Environment

    In this chapter, the author focuses more on how to incorporate blogs into the classroom and activities that can be used in areas that have can have a less restricted for internet use. Kist, discusses the use of social networking in a high-tech environment by using the web 2.0 classroom as he titles this chapter “Grande”. Teachers were encouraged to discuss online etiquette before allowing students to use an unfiltered access to the internet. Some teachers first became part of the world of Web 2.0 and started to blog and then started using it in the classroom. Teachers were very cautious about turning students loose into interacting with strangers from other blogs that were not part of the community. One way for teachers to interact with the students is to provide blogs that align with the school’s rules and regulations and the curriculum of the course. According to (Kist 2010) , he mentions in this chapter that students understand what is social networking etiquette he calls in the book net etiquette, that students will be interacting with and leaving comments on the blogs of strangers, those outside the classroom community and a part of a community that is international. Kist also addresses that blogs provide a way to interact and discuss with people across the world. The author interviewed a teacher named George Mayo who conducted a project with students in six different countries to collaborate on writing a story, all doing this through Twitter.

            Some examples and activities of how blogs and social networking can be used in the classroom and provide a less restricted internet usage environment is Blogosphere Tasks where a teacher selects certain blogs that support the curriculum. Students are expected to read and provide comments for their assignment.  Another example is the Social Action project Kist used in the book is for students to start to inquiry about the activities and provide feedback.

Reference

Kist, W. (2010). The socially networked classroom: Teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.